Entering Kansas

The time off in Denver was great. I had time to rest my leg & enjoy the city. I even had 2 sushi meals! On Sunday we went to the Rockies game & watched them beat the Dodgers 10-4. Ryan got us great $13 tickets in right field that were really good AND included a free hot dog & soda.We left Monday morning, drove back to Pueblo & restarted our ride. It was a relatively short 60 mile ride to Ordway, CO. It should have been an easy day, but noooooo.... Most of the day was into a truly nasty headwind or crosswind. We would try to paceline, but the winds were swirling & it was really tough to find a good place to be with another rider or 2. Then there was Ordway..

As soon as we turned off the highway into town, it stank. Really, really stank. Like Poo. Not farm smell, like sewage smell. Really really bad. We stayed in the wrestling room so at least the floor was padded. Our support team A made a great dinner with chicken & tofu casseroles. We couldn't wait to leave.

The next day took us another 60'ish miles. We did a lecture at the Ordway HS in the morning, then rode from there. We stopped at Eads, CO & then drove another 70 miles to Leoti, KS HS. A 2nd day of flat roads with high winds. A much nicer school & another great dinner by support team B.

Today we all started out expecting another rough ride & were pleased that it didn't happen. Today was an 80 mile day to Ness City, KS where we did a short lecture at 1 of the smallest hospitals I've ever been to visit. They have 20 beds & average 4 inpatients/day. The winds were mild, even cooling. The roads were easy, flat to rolling with a good shoulder. We had a rest stop in Scott City at a donut shop & lunch in Dighton (corrected 5/1) at an ice cream stand that made burgers. I had a double with fries & a shake. Not our usual, but the shop gave us all our food at 50% off. Delicious!

Here are 2 pictures to close out today. We rode past George Washington Carver's home. The other is Jeff & Ryan giving the lecture at Ness City Hospital.

Days 21-24 From Montrose to Denver, CO

We're in Denver Colorado now having crossed the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass on Thursday. When we left Montrose, we headed out to Gunnison. Scott, the realtor who hooked us up with the great condos in Telluride rode with us again & continued to serve as a local expert & guide to the terrain.

The thing I forgot to tell you about Montrose.... we stayed at a church that had great space & showers. More importantly though, there was a shopping center within walking distance. I enjoyed a guilt-free Stone Cold Creamery milkshake & went shopping with Branden, Stephen & Darrick to places like Walmart & Sports Authority. Shopping at Walmart. Now, there's a treat! Seriously.

In Gunnison, we stayed at Western State University of Colorado. We enjoyed having actual mattresses in the dorm rooms. We tried & failed to find the "big tacos" they were supposedly making for an Earth Day celebration. Nonetheless, we had a great dinner at a local pub.

Leaving Gunnison, we started the day with a gentle, consistent climb that culminated in a 9 mile launch from 7000 ft to 11,312 feet at Monarch Pass. Here are 2 pictures, 1 with Stephen & me & another of me alone. Hey, it's my blog.

And just as a comparison, here's the photo I used in 1 of my 1st entries that shows the same spot during last year's R4WH.
Hmmm, I wanted to show you the lack of snow compared to our trip, but look closely.... it's a different sign altogether!


To fully disclose, I have an admission that I must reluctantly make.... I did not complete this climb. I made it to within 4-5 miles of the top before racking my bike & getting in the van. I can note several reasons/excuses/pains/injuries for this, but the bottom line remains. I didn't make it to the highest point of our trip & that sorta saddens me. Happily, though, nearly all of our team's riders DID make the painful climb & reached the summit. In typical R4WH team fashion, all my friends here have been fully supportive & helpful regardless of mine or anyone's daily issues. Thanks, guys!

That afternoon, I joined about 1/2 the team as Clare & Farhaad presented a lecture to a Denver Rotary club. R4WH is a life experience like no other. I had breakfast in the cold morning air in Gunnison & lunch at a swanky country club in Denver. The members there were engaged & interested in us, our journey, our mission & our message of world health disparities. They were also very generous, buying t-shirts, bike raffles & simply making donations.

On to Denver itself. We're staying at a senior citizen day care center & loving it. We have showers & laundry. They're feeding us & feeding us well. We are sleeping on cots & have sheets, towels, pillows & blankets instead of hard floors, Thermarest pads & sleeping bags.

Today we had our 1st Solidarity ride in Colorado Springs. It was a 20 mile route that was well attended by 1 rider from the community & several team riders. It was a cold & often rainy ride that I still enjoyed. It gave me the chance to stretch out & test my sore leg. I felt pretty good & was able to put a few miles in & prove that I am recovering well at this point.

Tomorrow is a real "day off" with no planned activities. I hope to sleep in some & just relax in Denver for the day. On Monday, we'll be 1/2 way through the trip as we head to Ordway, CO & then leave Colorado & enter Kansas on Tuesday.

Some videos so far

I have a hardwired connection, so here's a few videos I've recorded.

I'm mistaken in the video, we climbed 800 feet over a 1 mile road.

Here's Jeff dancing (as usual)...

2 videos into Barstow, CA

2 videos leaving Barstow via Historic Route 66..

Day 20 I think: Telluride to Montrose CO

Today was about 64 miles of mostly downhill or level riding with one fairly easy 12 mile climb. Leaving Telluride, we rode past Jack Nichlaus' property; the Golden Bear Ranch.

Just across the road is Ralph Lauren's property seen here in the background.

Tomorrow we go to Gunnison then Thursday we climb up to Monarch Pass & the Continental Divide.... wish me luck!

Since today's port is a short one, I thought I'd write some about things that are different in my life these days compared to my life at home.

1. I've gotten comfortable sleeping on just about any floor surface.
2. I've slept in a real bed on 5 nights out of about 23 nights so far.
3. I've camped through a sand/dust/wind storm in Tecopa CA & woke up to snow on the ground in Natural Bridges Park in Utah. We're done with camping & I'm glad for that.
4. I often go to sleep by 9:30 or 10pm.
5. Many times I don't know what day it is.
6. Any slightly secluded place by the road can be a "rest stop."
7. The food we make is always delicious.
8. I bike with an iPod in 1 ear most of the time. I almost never do this at home.
9. I can shower in 3 minutes. That beats not showering at all...done that too.
10. Graham crackers, peanut butter, oreos & Powerbars make great snacks.
11. I can eat almost anything I want. Today I had a Cold Stone Creamery milkshake with no guilt at all.
12. I have no desire to check email every hour.

That's a dozen things & if I kept going, it might not be family-oriented. So I'll stop here. See you tomorrow.

Greetings from Telluride CO

Hi guys. It's been a while since I last wrote but we've had limited Internet access for a while. So far, I figure that I've ridden about 800 miles & the group as a whole has done over 1000 miles. Yesterday we rode about 64 miles from Dolores CO to Telluride. The 1st 50 miles was a steady, low grade climb followed by a couple of quick descents & 1 more tough climb before we arrived.

I'm just going to try to summarize what's been going on since I last wrote as we left NV & have since rode through Utah & into Colorado. Most of these pics & others can be seen on Facebook or by clicking here.

First of all, southern Utah is absolutely beautiful. The mountains are many, so we did a lot hard ups & steep downs among some spectacular red rock formations.

Once of the first climbs we did out of Ceda City was up near Bryce Canyon & we came to Zion National Park overlook. "HI" to Christian's family & thanks for reading my blog.

In Boulder Utah, we stayed with host families. Boulder UT is a small town with a population that ranges from about 180 to 250 depending on the season. We gave a lecture at the elementary school there. We spoke to a group of about 12 kids that comprised all students in grades K-6. They have no child in 5th grade, so made up "Tommy" & told us "he's fat!" Cute cute kids.

It was snowing when we left Boulder & the road over Boulder Mountain was covered, so we drove over the mountain then continued our ride into Hanksville where we spoke at another elementary school. Myself & some other riders went to both events & didn't ride that day.In Hankville, we stayed at the school overnight, but visited Goblin Valley State Park. The formations there resemble (use your imagination) goblins, of course.
The day we left Utah & entered Colorado I was on support for the day. We had a lunch at the Cahone CO Senior Center & Christina & Kristin did a lecture there for about 10-12 local residents who joined us for lunch.


Fast forward to our ride into Telluride. The 1st 25 miles of climbing were warm & green. The later part of the day we rode among 14,000 foot peaks & climbed to about 10,300 feet ourselves. Here are a few pics from later that day.

The next few days we'll be crossing Colorado as we approach Denver & the Continental Divide. We'll be climbing that day to over 11,000 feet. I'll write again as soon as I can.

Steve

Hi! This is Margie. Steve called and asked me to post this blog for him. He's just getting through Utah and they haven't had cell/internet access for the past few days. They'll be riding into Colorado tomorrow. He and the team are doing great and once they are able, the blogs and pictures will start again.

Day 10: Alamo NV to Panaca NV

Yesterday we were in the desert. Today the ride was called early due to snow on the mountain as we approached Pananca.

We began the ride in a cold rain & covered about 38 miles of the 73 scheduled before we stopped for safety sake. It rained the entire day & there was snow falling & accumulating up ahead. Of course, now it's clear & the sun is sneaking through. Nobody complained about stopping early today, though.

Now we're in for the day. Ken is a high school teacher here & has been very helpful to us. We shipped some supplies to his house. He opened up the school so we could use the showers there. He's bringing us dinner.

We're staying at the local firehouse for the night. Ken is bringing us pasta, salads & some drinks for dinner. He's already outlined our whole ride for tomorrow. About 80 miles to Cedar City, Utah. A big climb at the start over 10 miles or so. Then some rolling hills and then a 50 mile flat stretch. One more "gradual" mountain to climb as we approach Cedar City. I'll let you know tomorrow how accurate he was. Here's a pic of the mountains from the window of the firehouse.

Day 9: Las Vegas to Alamo, NV

Today was that near perfect ride day I've been waiting for. High about 70 degrees, mild wind that was mostly a tailwind; some gentle cimbing with mostly flat road or downhill & topped off by a well maintained, smooth roadway. Overall, I feel pretty good. Some minor aches & pains & chafing are to be expected. I am feeling like I'm starting to adapt to this schedule & starting to build some leg muscle along the way.

After 2 days in Vegas, I think we were all glad to get out of there! It felt so opposite to what we're doing & how we all feel. It was good to be out on the open road in sight of mountains everywhere & nobody flicking "massage & companionship" calling cards at you. Although... 1 rider of our group decided to take a proactive approach & she has collected maybe 100 of these. Some of us have taken these & attached them to our bikes for some diversion as we roll.

Tonight we're in Alamo, NV. Not "The Alamo;" that's in Texas. We're staying at a high school & have showers. We're able to use the home economics room for cooking dinner & doing some laundry too. Tomorrow..... Panaca NV then on to Cedar City, UT on Sunday as we cross another state line.

BTW, the Doylestown Intelligencer published a short story about the ride & me in today's paper. Here's the link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer/the_intelligencer_news_details/article/27/2009/april/10/nurse-to-ride-3700-miles-for-world-health.html.

Catching up on Days 1-8: San Diego to Las Vegas

4/2/2009 Day 1; La Jolla to Laguna Beach
We rode out & went back to Torrey Pines to dip our wheels in the Pacific Ocean. From there, we rode out the Pacific Coast Highway about 65 miles to Laguna Beach. We ended the day a few miles early in order to get to a dinner in time, no problem. The community we stayed at in Pasadena was a group of neighbors that fed us & opened their homes to us for 2 nights.

4/3/2009 Day 2; LA Event Day
No ride today.

4/4/2009 Day 3; Pasadena, CA to Hesperia CA
Today we climbed out of LA & over the San Gabriel Mountains. The first 10 miles were easy. After that, the climbing began & we went from about 1,000 feet to almost 8,000 feet over about 30 miles (my estimated distance). Hard, hard, hard! I had tried to get a new cassette for my bike with a bigger climbing gear, but neither of the 2 shops we tried had one that fit my bike. What I’d heard was totally true. You sweat on the climbs & freeze on the descents. Like I said earlier, my max speed on the climb was about 7 mph and my average there was probably more like 5.5-6. We stopped at the Mile High Café for a water stop & a photo.

We put on our windbreakers & long fingered gloves for the descent. Fun, fun, fun! Even though I needed to brake from time to time around the turns, I still maxed out at 41 mph coming off the mountain.

I have to tell you, I made it over the mountains, but didn’t finish the day. After the descent & some flat road, more climbing ensued. My legs just gave out about 55 miles into the ride that was scheduled for about 95 miles total. The support team racked my bike & I climbed into the sag wagon. Ugh! Then the whole team stopped riding about 5 miles after I had since we had to be in Hesperia at 7 pm for an event at the church there. We made it just in time, but there was some confusion & we wound up not being able to do any presentation that evening.

In Hesperia, the local Catholic church housed us & let us use their kitchen for our dinner & breakfast. We all squeezed into the 2 small rooms they let us use. In the morning, we were able to speak after an 8 am mass in English & then just before a 10 am mass in Spanish. We left there around 11:30 & headed to Barstow.

4/5/2009 Day 4; Hesperia to Barstow CA
After that long hard day in the mountains, a short 45 mile ride was just what everyone needed. Nothing too eventful. We stayed at the Barstow Community College in a huge gym where we all had plenty of room to spread out. We had showers & laundry, but no kitchen. No problema. Mexican restaurants are easy to find.

4/6/2009 Day 5; Barstow to Kelso, CA
Our first century day (100 miles). We drove about 30-40 miles out of Barstow & began riding on Historic Route 66. I remember that rule about “if you can’t say something nice…” OK, here: There are no cars on Route 66 outside of Barstow. That’s the nice part. Otherwise, the road pretty much sucks. The first 10 miles or so were cracked, stony, holey pavement that felt like it hadn’t been maintained in years. Fortunately, if you keep going, things get better. The next 20 miles were pure heaven. I rode alone for most of that time cruising easily at 20 mph.

After lunch, the dessert heat set in. I rode the rest of the day with Jess & we pulled each other through the hills, the heat & the wind to the end. I did a century!!! I’d done one a couple years ago on the MS150, but that was flat in NJ; nothing at all like this one.

We camped out at… ready?... Hole in the Wall Campground. Really cold, but a beautiful clear & starry night. Not that I could appreciate the night. After dinner & a support team meeting, I crashed out, still sweaty & covered in sunscreen (no showers here).

4/7/2009 Day 6; Kelso to Tecopa, CA
My turn on support, so a day to help everyone else & rest my own legs after the 100 mile day. Another camping day, but pretty different places. There’s a natural hot springs. After dinner & showering, a hot soak just felt perfect. Then there’s the wind. “It’ll die down” we were told. Wrong! It gusted all night long. I had to reverse my position in the tent just to have the tent hitting my feet instead of my head when it bellowed inward.

4/8/2009 Day 7; Tecopa, CA to Las Vegas, NV
Vegas Baby!!! It was a 70 mile ride with time to practice our teamwork & pacelining. There was also a good deal of climbing after lunch, about 20 miles worth. Then the payback. Over the crest & down the mountain with Vegas in the distance & a mostly straight road down. My max speed hit 47 mph & some of my teammates went even faster. I covered 10 miles in about 15 minutes. YAHOOOOOO! Man was that ever fun.

4/9/2009 Day 8; Las Vegas NV
No ride today. We had 2 presentations. One at a local High School & another at the Medical School here. Mostly, today was a day off to decompress & do some laundry. And to write all this catch up stuff, too.

Last night a bunch of went to see Mystere at Cirque de Soleil. In a word, incredible, amazing, wild. (Yeah, I know). That’s about all I did Vegas’ish. We’ll go out for dinner tonight, then prep for tomorrow’s ride to Alama, NV.

For more photos, click here.

R4WH Days 1-4

I owe you all some details, but it's 11pm & I need to get to sleep. The 1st day's ride up to Laguna Beach was 65 beautiful miles that could only have been better if the sun was out more. We stayed in Pasedena with host families. Dan & I stayed with Wilson & Stephanie & we couldn't have been more lucky.

On day 3, we crossed the San Gabriel mountains & climbed from ~1000 ft to almost 8000 ft over about 40 miles. Very very tough day. We had an event to be at so the ride was called early after about 60 miles. Max speed going up, 7. Max going down, 41!

Today was a pleasant 45 mile trip to Barstow Ca. It was a good day for all of us to get our legs back after the severe climbing of yesterday. Tomorrow is scheduled for 100+ miles into the Mohave desert. We leave at 7 am.

I have pictures to load & will try again to get some vids up. Stay tuned. Good night.
Steve

Our 1st rides together

Yesterday we got out for our 1st group ride. We did a short 15 mile trip to Torrey Pines & back. Seeing us all together in team jerseys & lined up on the road was a very cool sight. Even more cool was the view of the valley as we went SCREAMING downhill towards the park entrance. The climb out was pretty extreme. We decided to go through the park vs back up on the road. The incline on the park road was very, very steep for the early going & tested everyone's legs pretty quickly. We all made it up though & we'll do another climb today.


Before that, we're doing an event at UCSD & presenting a lecture to a group of med students there. Tomorrow after dipping our wheels in the Pacific, we head out to LA on the official Day 1 of the journey.

I've tried twice to upload some video here, but the wireless connection here must be slow. I'll try again later. For any of you on Facebook, I'll try to load them there as well.

Later that same day... Ok, I was wrong. That climb was nothing compared to what we did today. We climbed Mt Soledad in La Jolla, CA. 1.5 miles of climbing & 850 vertical feet. It was completely lung searing, leg ripping tough! The view from the top though was incredible. The descent was tough too as the road was in poor condition & we all rode our breaks the entire way down. It was just too much to think about getting too much speed going.

For some early still pics, click here to see what I've loaded to Facebook. That's all for now. We leave here tomorrow at 6:30, 7AM. Time to shut down & check on my packing & my gear for tomorrow.

Steve